Michael Berkeley was born in 1948, the eldest son of Sir Lennox Berkeley and a godson of Benjamin Britten. He was a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, and then studied at the Royal Academy of Music and later with Richard Rodney Bennett.

While Composer in Association to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, he wrote three new works including the Concerto for Orchestra. In 2008 Berkeley’s third opera, For You, to a libretto by Ian McEwan, was premiered at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House.

Recent works include Into the Ravine, written for Nicholas Daniel and the Carducci Quartet, premiered at the Presteigne Festival in 2012, and Three Cabaret Songs for Barbara Hannigan and Angela Hewitt with new words by Ian McEwan, heard first on 3rd July 2013 at the Trasimeno Music Festival in Italy. Berkeley was also commissioned to compose the anthem for the Enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, on 21st March 2013 in Canterbury Cathedral.

Berkeley is currently writing a ballet score for Wayne McGregor and the Royal Ballet, based on The Art of Fugue for a premiere in February 2014.

In addition to composing, Berkeley presents BBC Radio 3’s ‘Private Passions’. He was appointed a CBE for services to music in 2012 and has recently been made an independent peer in the House of Lords.

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